Washington Examiner Drags Feet on Correction

Last week, Washington Examiner gossip scribe Nikki Schwab was on the receiving end of a public spanking from Chef Anthony Bourdain after she reported that he had been spotted at the restaurant Ping Pong and had announced that he was a big fan of their dumplings. Meanwhile, he blasted over Twitter that he has never even stepped foot in the restaurant. Scwhab apologized and the item was removed from the Examiner website.

When we asked for comment, Schwab directed us to the restaurant, which she said had provided her with what turned out to be false information. “Talk to the Ping Pong folks, they’re still certain he was in there and that he mentioned them — the whole thing baffles my mind.” (Clarification: Confusion galore — Nikki was actually speaking on the record to us so we have removed the phrase “stayed mum.” The world can now move on.)

As is the Examiner‘s customary policy, corrections follow whether an item is removed or not. But that didn’t happen — at least not in the 24-hour aftermath of Bourdain’s temper tantrum. So we inquired about it with Examiner Editor Stephen Smith.

He replied, “Our policy is to take down the post and issue a correction. We were slow on this one because the item didn’t appear in print, which is a conspicuous reminder to set the record straight. This time you did the reminding, and we’ve now posted a correction.”